28/03/2026
The Council on Higher Education (CHE) hosted a two-day stakeholder consultation workshop (March 26–27, 2026) in Maseru to deliberate on reforming programmes offered by higher education institutions so that they are relevant and address national priorities and market needs.
Participants at this workshop were Heads of institutions, Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Finance and Development, Ministry of Labour and Employment, National Manpower Development Secretariat (NMDS), professional bodies such as Lesotho Institute of Accountants, Law Society of Lesotho, Lesotho Nursing Council, Lesotho Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Council, Engineering Association of Lesotho, Public Service Commission, Teaching Service Commission, Local Government Service Commission, private sector representatives and CHE staff.
Key highlights from the engagement:
There were three presentations to set the scene and provide context for the engagement. The first presentation was by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on the economic trajectory and national priorities for the next ten years. The presentation pointed to the urgent need for transformation, not only in the skills development sector, but in other sectors as well given the changes influenced by COVID 19 and geo-politics among other things. The second presentation was delivered by the Ministry of Education and Training wherein sectoral priorities were highlighted in relation to access to higher education, quality assurance and research. Institutions were urged to take these into account when they develop new programmes, and review already existing ones. The third and final presentation by the Ministry of Labour and Employment indicated the skills shortages and mismatch in the labour market as a result of poor collaboration between institutions and industry. It became clear from the presentation that expatriates are granted work permits to work in the Kingdom in large numbers because they have skills that Basotho do not have. Institutions were called upon to close this gap with programmes that are responsive to the market needs.
The workshop deliberated on development of performance indicators that will be used by institutions to assess relevance of their programmes. These are called Programme Relevance Indicators. If a programme is found not to be relevant it will either be reviewed or be phased-out and replaced by those that are more relevant. Once the indicators are finalised and approved by CHE, they will be implemented by institutions and monitored by CHE. NMDS will contribute through ensuring that only relevant programmes offered by higher education institutions are financed. These processes should ultimately lead to the transformation of higher education in Lesotho.
